Killed cyclist was on cell phone, police say

September 13, 2007|By Chicago Tribune

A bicyclist who was struck and killed by a garbage truck Tuesday afternoon in Logan Square apparently was talking on her cell phone, Chicago police said.

Blanca Ocasio, 19, of the 2800 block of West McLean Avenue was riding east around 4 p.m. on Armitage Avenue near Kedzie Avenue when a National Waste Services truck made a right turn onto Kedzie and struck her, police said. Ocasio was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about a half-hour later, the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

The driver of the truck, Daniel Brown, 35, of Maywood was ticketed for making an improper right turn but not otherwise charged, police said.

In the last few years, there have been about 20 to 25 fatal accidents per year involving bicyclists in Illinois, the majority of which were in Cook County, according to state transportation statistics.

But that's not the whole story, said Randy Neufeld, chief strategist for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. According to statistics from the Illinois Department of Transportation, more than 3,000 cases per year result in serious injury to cyclists -- slightly more than half the figure of accidents involving pedestrians, Neufeld said.

Some accidents, such as the case involving Ocasio, may have been prevented if cyclists were more alert, Neufeld said. But when it comes to avoiding accidents, the most responsibility, he said, lies with motorists.

"We can do a certain amount to try to get bicyclists to obey the laws they should. ... Cell phones are distracting, so when you ride a bicycle, you should not use one," he said. "But her using the cell phone was not the cause of the crash."

Neufeld said anyone may cycle, meaning drivers must always be on alert for inexperienced or distracted cyclists.

"Every user is responsible for themselves. But the person that has the most responsibility is the person that has the most speed and mass," Neufeld said. "That's why we license people to use motor vehicles."